Latest Arrangeball Projects

[emmadog]

Awhile back the following thread was started in the Modern Pachinko forum:
http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/mode...-pachinko.html
In it I posted the two machines that I would most like to find. So it's a pretty rare occurrence when a coin op arrange ball comes up. Much less two of them. And even less likely the ones you happened to be looking for. So I placed my bids and managed to win 'em both although based on the bidding history it looks like someone was artificially driving the bids up. Oh well, you have to pay to play. Now I did have going for me the fact that they definitely need cosmetic work and that turns away some people as well as being on YJA. But what made my mind up to bid was that the important stuff is there like circuit boards (I definitely don't want to have to go through replacing those again), unique tulips, various external plastics, and so on. And they both power up.
These will both be intensive restorations which is what I enjoy more than playing, with the goal and challenge being to restore them to an as new condition. This will include a new cel on the red Zodiac machine, and probably the other one too. Not sure if I'll go the proven adhesive vinyl route or try printing on a different substrate such as thin plastic sheet. Sort of like a pinball translite but opaque.
The plastic parts on the Zodiac were originally white I believe, and they'll be retr0brighted. All the plastic parts inside and out will be removed, cleaned, and polished as well as every other part. I also plan on sanding down the wooden frame/case inside and out and sealing with a clear sealer to preserve the wood and it's original color. I'm doing that now to my Kyoraku Baseball.
Metal parts polished and frames/finger rest to be rechromed as well.
All the cigarette marks will be sanded down and removed, then the plastic reshaped if necessary and repolished. After that, the recessed painted areas will be redone using Liquitex acrylics. They have a nice matte finish like the original paint when airbrushed.
Then new lamps for the "token empty" and "stop" light and LEDs for everything else.
Any electrical issues will be addressed by my electronics guy and I'll probably have a schematic made for at least one of these.
Originally I was going to wait until these were both done and then post before and after pics but this is going to be a long process. So I decided to post pics as I go. I'll get started in January and hope to have one done by Spring. Then the next one done middle of Summer.